Method of and means for preserving tobacco



c. c. ULA.l METHODOF AND MEANS FOR PHESE'RVING TOBACCO.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 9.1920.

Patented July 13, 1920.

UNITED STATES PATNT Oli'flfl.

CALEB C. DULA, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TG LIGGETT @a MYERS TOBAOCO COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A. CORPORATION OF JERSEY.

METHOD OF AND MEANS FR PRESERT-.TING TOBACCO.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patiitd July 13, 1920,

Application filed June 9, 1920. Serial No. Y387,636.

To all IwhomJ t 'may concern lle it known that I, (time C. DULA, a citizen of the United States, and resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of and Means for Preserving Tobacco, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates generally to the art of preserving and more particularly to the art of preserving` packaged manufactured products of the kind that are affected by atmospheric conditions, such for instance as pocket packages of tobacco in various forms.

In most instances these tobacco products are inclosed within boXes or packages each bearing a distinctive label having printed or lithographed thereon the trade mark brand of the product, and almost without exception these labels are printed or lithographed in several colors and are often quite elaborate and expensive.

One object of my invention is to provide a method of and means for not only preserving and protecting the contents of such packages, but also the original wrapper or label carried thereby.

lt is well known by manufacturers and users of tobacco that these products are far more satisfactory when they contain a certain amount of moisture such for instance as that contained therein when they are originally packed, (the degree of moisture depending somewhat upon the nature of the product); and it is also well known that when exposed for sale for any appreciable length of time such products soon dry out and lose a great deal of their' flavor and aroma and otherwise deteriorate. This peculiarity of packaged tobacco has always been a source of great annoyance and eX- pense to tobacco manufacturers generally and they have adopted various kinds of more or less costly containers and wrappers for their products in the hope of satisfactorily solving the problem. rlilhey have used con-` tainers made of tin, tin foil, foil and paper combined, paraiiin treated liners and wrappers, specially prepared laminated sheets formed into pouches and wrappers, cardboard boxes with foil and waxed paper interliners, and other structures, but notwithstanding the many attempts heretofore made to preserve manufactured tobacco in package form, the efforts in this direction have not proven to be entirely satisfactory. At least the packages now generally employed do not retain the product in the best condition for any considerable period of time. This perhaps is due, in a measure at least, to the fact that tobacco manufacturers are averse, for sound business rea sons, to making any change in the style and dress of a long established brand put up in distinctive package form. ln many instances these well lknown packages are made by machinery built especially for the purpose at great expense, and besides, as stated, the packages usually contain expensive lithographed labels or wrappers sometimes printed in many colors.' To build new machinery for a new style of package would entail too great an expense, and to change the well known packages and their wrappers or labels, or to adopt new ones, would be entirely impractical lrom a business standpoint because of possible confusion to the public.

The object of the present invention therefore is, to provide a method of and means for preserving manufactured tobacco products as put up in pocket packages, whether of tin, foil, paper, paper board, or otherwise, and without in any way altering the style or dress of the original package, thus enabling the manufacturer to adopt and employ my new method and means without altering the present methods of putting up his product.

Briefly and generally stated, my invention comprises a hermetically sealed package of manufactured tobacco consisting of an original package bearing on its outer surface the indicia usuallyemployed, such as trade mark name, etc., to designate the particular tobacco brand inclosed within the package, a readily removable supplemental wrapper of porous or absorbent' translucent or trans parent paper folded about and completely covering the package and having predetermined portions thereof adhesively connected together in order to maintain the wrapper in position about the package until intentionally removed, and a thin film or coating of paraffin applied to the outer surface and covering and filling the crevices formed by the folded portions of said removable wrapper to hermetically seal the same, the construction and arrangement of the various elements being such that the Original Vbrand designation will be readily visible through the paralin coating as well as the outer removable wrapper when the latter is in posi'- tion upon the package, in order that the brand may be readily distinguished, and which removable wrapper may be easily torn away leaving the original wrapper with its brand indicia intact.

In order to enable others skilled' in the art to understand and practise my said invention I will now proceed to describethe same in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1, is a perspective view of a well known form oif tobacco package ot the tin container type which. may be hermetically sealed in accordance with my present invention, the package having on its outer surface the trade mark and other indicia designating the particular tobacco product contained in the package. f

Fig. 2, is a perspective view of the package illustrated in Fig. 1 with the supplemental removable wrapper applied thereto in accordance with the present invention, the package being partially treated to render it ermetically sealed, and a portion ot the wrapper being broken away to show how the folds are adhesively connected to one another. Y.

Fig.v 3, is a vertical sectional view of the package illustrated in Fig. 2.`

Fig. 4L, is a perspective view of the package illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 with a portion of the supplemental wrapper tern away showing howthe wrapper may be removed and showing also how the trade mark and other indicia is made visible through the wrapper.

Figs. 5 and 6, are perspectiveviews of other forms of tobacco packages hermetically sealed according to the present invention. 1

In practising my invention I first take an ordinary package of manufactured tobacco,

as 8, Fig. 1, such as newfound upon the market and which may be ot any construction, whether oit tin, paper-board, paper, sheet-wrapped or ot the cup. type, and which has printed or lithographed thereon the trade mark or other indicia 9, designating the particular tobacco brand inclosed within the package.V Of course the. package may contain anyvof the various forms of manufactured tobacco.

The package is then inclosed within a thin wrapper 10,. of cheap paper, preferably of an absorbent or porous nature. The wrapper may be applied to the tobacco package in any suitable way, as for instance, in the manner illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and 5, wherein it is shown as consisting of a sheet folded about the package and infolded at the ends. The infolded and lapped portions of lthe wrapper are adhesively attached to one another at predetermined points by asuitable cement or glue, as indicated at 12, Figs. 2 and 3, in order that the wrapper will be retained in position about the package, but at the same time permitting readyv removal thereof from the package by tearing the wrapper as shown in Fig. 4, or breaking the adhesively-sealed portions. My invention is not limited to any particular manner of folding or applying the removable or supplemental wrapper to the package, as this is immaterial, but in all cases it should be readily vremovable by tearing or otherwise. Instead of forming the wrapper from a single sheet Vfolded about the package as illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and 5, it may consist of a pair of removably applied paper cups or shells, 13 and 14C said cups or shells being slipped over and closing opposite ends of the package with as shown in Fig. 6, the.

the skirt portions of the shells over-lapping A and connected together by adhesive.

vIn Fig. 3, I have shown my invention as applied to a well known form of tobacco package consisting of a tin container V15, carrying the tobacco, and having the outer removable wrapper 10 applied thereto, the wrapper being folded and the folds being adhesively connected together at one or both ends of the tin container, as shown at 12.

The original package of tobacco having had the supplemental removable wrapper applied thereto with predetermined portions adhesively attached to one another, is now coated with melted paraliin, the paratlin being applied so as to form an exterior coating that will not only fill and close all thecrevices formed by the folds in the wrapper and over-lapping portions thereof, but which will effectually fill and lclose the pores of' the paper wrapper itself, thus forming a hermetically-sealed package.

The parailin may be applied `to the package in any suitableway as by a dipping or spraying action. The application of the parafiin operates to render the supplemental removable wrapper more or less ,transparent so that the trade mark brand or other indicia carried by the label on the original package will be readily visible therethrough, thus enabling the purchaser to readily recognize the same. In Fig. 2, I have shown a package with its supplemental wrapper partially treated with parain and illustrating how this treatment vrenders the wrapper more or less transparent. In this instance thewrapper material is not originally of a'transparent or translucent character.V It will be understood of course that the Vnished package is coated throughout with paraiiin in order to hermetically seal the same. The showing of Fig. 2 is merely to give a clearer understanding of the invention.

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l'nasmuch as the package is hermetically sealed, its contents will be maintained in a fresh condition forI a considerable period of time. When purchased by the consumer the supplemental wrapper with its paraffin coating may be readily removed by tearing it away thus leaving the package in exactly the condition it was before the supplemental wrapper was applied and with the original label bearing its trade mark or other indicia intact and unmarred, which is a matter of prime importance, not only to the manufacturer but to the user.

@ne of the important features of the invention resides in the fact that the paraffincoated supplemental wrapper may be readily torn away from the original package upon receipt thereof by the consumer. It is well understood that paraffin is more or less greasy or oily and therefore objectionable when present in a package of merchandise such as a package of tobacco intended to be carried in the pocket of the user. By applying the paraffin coating to the outer `removable wrapper as described l overcome these objections because of the fact that the outer wrapper` is readily removable and when removed the package with its original label will. appear unsoiled and unmarred.

Another important feature of my invention resides in the fact that the supplemental wrapper has predetermined portions thereof, and preferably its folded portions, adhesively connected together before the paraffin is applied so as to securely retain the wrapper in position about the package until such time as it is desired to remove it. By thus applying and adhesively connecting portions of the wrapper before the application of the paraffin, all danger of accidental or premature opening or detachment of the wrapper is effectually avoided.

Another important feature of the invention resides in the fact that the original label bearing the trade mark or other indicia, usually found upon packages of this kind, will be visible through the supplemental wrapper' which is more or less translucent or t ansparent This latter effect will be produced by the application of the melted paraffin even though the paper itself is not originally transparent or translucent. Of course the paper constituting the wrapper is selected with. this end in view.

A further important feature of the invention resides in the fact that by my improved method I am enabled to hermetically seal all the various forms of well known pocket packages of tobacco without changing the present methods of making such packages and without altering the appearance thereof.

am aware that packages of merchandise have been inclosed within paraffin paper wrappers with overlapping portions of the w 'apper connected by applying a heated iron to such portions which causes the paraffin to melt and the overlapping portions to unite after a fashion, but such constructions are not satisfactory and do not provide hermetically-sealed packages as the crevices between the folded portions of the wrapper are not completely closed by the paraffin, and, furthermore, the paraffin itself does not permanently retain the folds intact as in my improved package wherein the folded portions are first connected by a suitable adhesive and afterward coated with paraffin.

l' am also aware that it has been proposed to interpose a film of water-proof material between a supplemental wrapper and the outer or original wrapper of the package, but such construction does not meet the present requirements because the supplemental wrapper cannot be removed without effacing the label on the original package which it is very desirable for business reasons to retain intact and in an unmarrcd condition.

I am also aware that it has been proposed to treat a package of merchandise with paraffin and then inclose the same in an additional untreated wrapper having printed matter thereon, but such a construction will not meet the present requirements because of the added expense in printing the supplemental wrapper, and further because the supplemental wrapper when removed leaves a greasy or oily paraffin-coated package which is objectionable as a pocket package.

Other more or less similar constructions have been suggested, but very few have ever gone into commercial use, and so far as I am aware none have ever been employed commercially as a method of or means for preserving pocket packages of tobacco because of the presence therein of one or more of the serious objections hereinbefore pointed out.

"What I claim is:

1. As a new product of merchandise, a hermetically-sealed package of manufactured tobacco comprising an orginal pocket package bearing on its outer surface suitable indicia designating the particular tobacco brand inclosed within the package, a readily removable wrapper of porous paper folded about and completely covering said package and having predetermined portions adhesively connected to maintain the wrapper in position about the package, and a coating of paraffin applied to the outer surface and closing the spaces between the folds of said removable wrapper to hermetically seal the same throughout, the construction and arrangement of the elements being such that the said brand designation will be visible through the parafiin coating and outer wrapper when the latter is in position upon the package in order that the brand may be readily distinguished, and which outerl 'servinof or-iinal ocket ackafres of manu- D I: 2D

factured tobacco-comprising the tobacco and its original container having on its outer surface identifying indicia designating the particular tobacco brand, which consists in inclosing the said container within a supplemental protective wrapper of porous paper memes and securing predetermined folded portions by adhesive in a manner to permit ready re-` Inoval thereof, and applying a coating of paraffin to the outer surface of said applied wrapper to `penetrate the folds and hermetically seal the same and render said supplemental wrapper semi-transparent to reveal the indicia on the original container.

Signed at New York city7 in the county of New York and State of New York, this k7th day of June, A. D. 1920.

GALEB C. DULA. 

